Bon Jovi, doctorate in hand, invokes pride in his Jersey

05/17/01
BY KELLY HEYBOER
STAR-LEDGER STAFF

Whatever you do in life, "be passionate," was the advice Jon Bon Jovi passed on to the Class of 2001 at Monmouth University's commencement yesterday.

The rock star and actor picked up an honorary doctor of humanities degree -- and the title "Dr. Bon Jovi" -- at the ceremony on the university's Great Lawn in West Long Branch. In his address, the Sayreville native admitted he was an unorthodox choice for a college graduation speaker.

"At this very moment, all across the country, thousands of graduates are receiving diplomas, some from schools like Yale, Georgetown and Dartmouth, who may think their piece of paper is more valuable -- or their commencement speaker more impressive," Bon Jovi said.

"Remember, we're from Jersey. We've been the underdogs all our lives," he said. "And I can tell you this: It's passion, it's not pedigree, that will win in the end."

The Middletown resident flew home from a North Carolina concert date to attend the ceremony. The honorary degree is the former John Francis Bongiovi's first college degree. He acknowledges that he barely made it out of Sayreville's War Memorial High School (Class of 1980), preferring playing in bands along the Jersey Shore over schoolwork.

He hit it big with his band Bon Jovi in the mid-1980s, just as most of Monmouth's current graduates were starting kindergarten. Monmouth officials said they wrote the rock star earlier this year asking if he would accept an honorary degree from the university for both his contributions to music and his charity work. They were slightly surprised when he accepted.

"He was sent a letter by the president of the university," said Frank Di Rocco, a university spokesman. "He indicated that he was intrigued."

The university had hoped to keep Bon Jovi's appearance a secret to surprise the graduates, but word leaked out a few weeks ago. As a result, an overflow crowd of several thousand, including some die-hard Bon Jovi fans without invitations, were sprawled across the university lawn.

With his wife, Dorothea, watching from the audience, Bon Jovi walked in with the 500 graduates to the strains of "Pomp and Circumstance." He wore a black graduation robe over dark pants and black cowboy boots, but declined to put the graduation cap over his trademark long locks. He carried the cap instead.

Despite shouted requests from the graduates to hear "Living on a Prayer," Bon Jovi did not sing. Instead, he used his sometimes-humorous 11-minute speech to talk about succeeding in the music business despite critics who said his band would never get a record deal. He also spoke about struggles to be accepted as a movie actor when "it wasn't Hollywood calling, it wasn't even Hoboken."

At age 39, the rock star said he had plenty of life lessons to share. "Elvis is more certainly alive," he said. "Life is what happens when you are busy making plans. . . . Live while you're alive. And thank your parents."

After his speech, Bon Jovi stuck around to shake the hands of nearly all of the 500 graduates who crossed the stage to pick up their degrees. He was scheduled to fly to Canada for a concert after the ceremony.

Social work major Kerri Russell-Russo of Toms River said it was slightly overwhelming to have one of her childhood heroes at her graduation. She plastered her mortarboard with Bon Jovi stickers.

Russell-Russo, 30, said she had been a Bon Jovi fan "since I was 17 and I went to see him in my red spandex and big hair." Fellow social work major Sabrina D'Agostino, 24, of Wanaque said it was also ironic that a singer her mother forbade her to listen to as a child would end up speaking at her college graduation.

"Who knew?" said D'Agostino.